Guess Which One I Voted For?
Greenpeace has a whale naming competition. Really.
Voodoo
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Greenpeace has a whale naming competition. Really.
Voodoo
Oh lordy. I'm at home, relaxing after an amazing family get together yesterday. The Wii brings families together, thank you very much! I can't wait to do that again.
At any rate, this day marks Black Friday, one of the most insane non-holidays in the world. So apparently now is the opening for Christmas shopping season, but not like we've been inundated since October, hello. At any rate, I didn't get to go out. I've been dealing with a nasty cough. Poor Mango's been lecturing me at 4AM "Drink water, you'll need to flush that mucus out." I swear, it's comedy. I'll cough, he'll deliver the lecture, and I'll drink the water and he's right! But then we'd repeat the thing again later, with a new message: "You are supposed to drink 4-6 bottles of water a day, but you don't drink anything." And then "Would you like some tea?" Aww. At any rate, I've got a bad cough, and I'm loving hacking up these lung biscuits. Guess how I'm going to spend my Monday? In bed.
To top things off, Momdoo thinks I'm preggo because I sleep constantly. I think it's the massive loss of sleep due to coughing that's doing it. I actually think I can feel my abs now because they're pretty sore at this point. I guess if I am, that's fabulous. If I'm not, then I'm not.
I will say this: Please don't ask me if I am. I'm starting to hate that. Really.
So back to Black Friday. I have been doing some shopping, yes. I had to limit myself to things I actually need. Wait, you did see that, I said "I" right? Yes, thank god, my family and Husbandido's family are doing Kris Kringle this year. That cuts a TON off our shopping list. So what did I buy today? Nothing sexy, dreadfully sorry. But I did pick up some books from Amazon (the Book Club selection, natch) and printer ink. How HOT is that? I know I know. Sucks.
But I'm saving myself for Friends and Family at Old Navy and Banana Republic. Here, you shopping whores:
Valid from 11/30-12/2:
Old Navy 20% off: PN7NFZ7TDM9S
Banana Republic 30% off: B21GK8VFBQ9J
Piperlime (Gap Shoes go see it! WTF!) 20% off: BCSK5WV5W03F (FREE SHIPPING TOO)
Okay, so that's all I got for now. There's some laundry to be done and a shitload of phlegm to pass.
Ciao for now, kids!
Voodoo
I've been sick for almost three weeks on and off. This hasn't been a great month, but sitting here the last few hours home sick on my days off has made me feel sad over not being able to finish what I've started. I hate knowing that I can't finish, but it's supposed to make me more motivated? Nah, that's okay.
At any rate, this is life. November was a bad month: a retreat this weekend, family time on the weekends, etc., has not made me as productive as I wanted to be. Perhaps I'll do it again in January when I have time to myself.
As life would have it too, there are changes to my health that necessitate reviewing what I'm doing with my life. I won't get into it, those of you who know, know. The option to take some time off work and go on disability has been interesting, to say the least, but who knows if that will work. I'm willing to entertain it, but I know being away causes more work, if you know what I mean.
Christmas is coming up, and it's already starting to get me antsy. Luckily, we will do the Kris Kringle thing this year. I'm excited about that, to be honest. Takes a ton of work off my hands, you know? Well, it's been forever since I updated, and my apologies for that. There's been a lot on my mind and even more on my plate. We'll be back in December. Promise!
Voodoo
Geez, I'm really behind now. But hey, that's life, right?
I realize that I am going to need some REALLY good stuff to kick it into gear. I think I have a somewhat of a main character, a conflict, but that's it. I need to think long term on this one.
I have decided to cheat and use places I go to all the time as settings. I figured that the guy lives in Visitation Valley. I know what he looks like, and I know what his family looks like. I am in the process of finding some tool friends (so this is where you weirdos will come in).
Yes, I like to write about my friends and deposit them in the story. So if you want to be in it, let me know. I'll add you in. I might add you in as a pet or maybe as a street name, but I'll throw you in. What have I got to lose?
I am way in the hole, so I'm going to need to work real hard to make up that deficit. I will be spending some quality time at Bacio soon, so I'll have to schedule that one in! Ciao for now, people. Hope you're doing well. Now that long awaited snippet at the jump!
-VDC
“Sure, the usual place, the usual dishes, and the usual good company,” James ended the conversation and said goodbye. He turned his cell off, and focused on the writing of his students. As an adjunct professor, James had a flexible schedule, although in order for him to stay at his apartment, he had to work at a few different schools, giving him many miles on his gently used Nissan Altima. He didn’t envy the cubicled lives of his roommate Albert, or his fellow classmates and friends from Boston College who were in the Bay Area with him. They were all desk jockeys, people who didn’t have that day to day interaction with people in the world outside, just the schmucks they worked with. Water cooler conversations he couldn’t understand. They often met up after work for drinks, and they were people he barely knew, but one single mention of Vodka Night, it was back on the same page with the fellas.
NB: We all had a Vodka Night, haven't we. btw, spent quality time with MnM (I'm going to have to change that nick to something more sinister) at Target! Yah baby, that was fun. Next stop: Ikea. Anyone want to go in for the ride?
Fark, I am so behind. I should have 10K words by now, and I'm shy a little under 4K. I'll have to pick it up, but i won't give up. I promise. I'm really happy where it's going, but I am a little stressed that I haven't had enough time to work on it. I've been busy with side projects, my class, and trying to take care of myself. You know?
But enough of the excuses. I like what I'm writing. I really do. The freaky baby story wasn't meant to be freaky. It was meant to be cute. Scary cute. Anyways, here's another installment for you to check out. A lot has happened since the Freaky Baby incident.
BTW, I have 9 pages single spaced, and I *just* got started. Here's the snippet, after the jump.
-VDC
“James, hey you fucker, what are you doing?” A woman’s voice giggled on his cell phone.
“Why hello, sister, what the fuck are you doing?” he laughed back. “I’m doing nothing. I’m reading composition papers. I’m bored out of my mind, but some of these kids are freakin’ hilarious.” He leafed through the last essay. “Did you eat dinner yet?”
“I did not,” Mel responded.
“Me either, fucker!” Crespie shouted in the background.
“Nice to know I’m loved,” James said.
***
BTW, this is pretty much a real conversation between me and my brother. I don't even know how real siblings talk to each other anymore. But it's all good. Anything else would be...wierd.
So overnight I developed a bit of a cold. Darnit. The weather changes, and people get sick, so I get sick too. Fresh. I cranked out a good 500 words then Husbandido came home. We went to sushi, and I took a dayquil there, but then got hooked up with some hot sake (it really does clear your sinuses, note to self), and now I'm drowsy and feeling like I got nothin' in me to write about.
Good movement tho so far. Here's what I came up with, after the jump.
James Bulintao is the first son of Malinda and Chespe Bulintao. Born in San Francisco after a sojourn on a long plane trip from Manila, James came into the world with big eyes, ones that seemed to take over his face. When he was brought home after Malinda’s recovery, he carefully watched people who came into his room as if he already knew them. While many babies do track new faces with bubbling interest, James stared at them as if to bore holes into their own. More than one side conversation discussed this, with one aunt commenting that maybe someone came back from “the other side” and is trying to find someone who he recognizes. Upon hearing this, the women made signs of the cross, and murmured a small prayer that they not get visited from some unknown and possibly unwelcome specter of a relative.
Funny. Chespe. Short for Chesapeake. Go figure. I love Filipinos. - VDC
Holy shit, batman...here's the news: Nanowrimo has started, and I'm in it to win it, baby. So I have 1672 words so far...that's pretty, um, insignificant, but I'm on target.
I've also set up my horrible excel sheet of doom:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pHPceuzKF5ZWdRxNg8D5DDQ
Please, check it out so you can see how SLOW I am and how the intestinal suckitude goes. My novel is titled "Don't Say All When You Mean Some" it's something I taught in class and it's quite hilarious. At any rate wish me luck.
After the jump I'll post every day a few lines for your utter amusement. Last novel I did, I haven't even re read the damn thing. But this one's for you people. Enjoy. Please don't laugh too loud.
Each time he sat down to write the letter, the object of his pain focus would change. Most of the time it was Elenna, who by now had moved on and was living with some guy she met in graduate school. Sometimes it was his mother who chided him for being single and while all her friends and the aunties were bringing home stellar girlfriends for their sons. Sometimes it was to his hot English TA in college who was just within reach, but he somehow failed to make a move because he was locked down with Elenna. Other days he feels like that letter needs to go to one person and only that person: himself. Most days he wants to write the letter to the therapist for 1) not giving him the drugs even though it’s not technically possible for her to do so, and 2) for giving him some silly ass letter to write that has taken him so far two years to even conceptualize.
On days like this, he still thinks he could fake an mental illness enough to try and get something for what ails him, but he’d rather be really crazy and get pills instead of fake crazy because fake crazy is too much work. Proud that he had this realization that he’s a lazy slacker with ambitions to get over this girl by medical means, James got up and went to the kitchen to fix himself another peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That letter, he thought to himself, will have to wait for later.
God that was horrible. More excerpts tomorrow! - Voodoo